When Next You Cross the River
by HecateA
Summary: What happens the next, and last, time Ethan kicks the can. Ethan and Xavier. Oneshot. Beautiful Redemption spoilers if that's still a thing.


**So I finished Beautiful Redemption about five hours ago. I don't think I need to tell you how I feel -the pain, the longing, the empty hole in my shattered heart- because I'm sure it's a fandom-wide thing. But I really loved the book and when I love something, I write fanfiction so here's a piece.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Caster Chronicles**

**Dedication: Wierdo/loveisapleasantdisaster for making me read the books and thus creating a monster.**

* * *

**When Next You Cross the River **

* * *

**Beautiful Redemption**

"I will meet you again, Ethan. I will see you when next you cross the river."

"I hope it's not for a long time."

"I hope this as well, my friend. For you more than me." His eyes seemed to twinkle for a second. "But I will keep busy collecting and counting until you return."

I didn't say anything as he slipped through the shadows and back into the world where nothing ever happened and the days became the same as nights.

I hoped he would remember me.

I was pretty sure he wouldn't.

* * *

**Sixty years later **

When Xavier saw the visitor he felt his lips pulling on his face. It was odd, and he wasn't used to his face making that expression. Like… a smile… that was what it was called, he thought.

"You," he croaked.

The man's lips pulled in the same way Xavier's had.

It was definitely a smile.

He was older than Xavier remembered him, but not so old that he looked crippled. Or maybe he was, and Xavier was losing his grasp on the concept of time and age again. His hair wasn't brown anymore, but it fell in his eyes the same way, and those were still brown. They were circled by lines now, but the wrinkles seemed to have been drawn on his face one by one, carefully and deeply. He had aged well.

"My friend." Xavier said.

Ethan smiled. "You did remember after all," he said. "That's one of the good surprises."

"My friend," Xavier smiled again and spreading out his bat wings. Ethan spread his arms and they embraced, like proper friends did as far as Xavier could remember and was, in that moment concerned.

* * *

Ethan accepted to come into Xavier's cavernous room of treasure. He helped Xavier move piles of comic books so that they could sit down and talk.

"Did you find your girl?" Xavier asked.

"You remember my girl," Ethan smiled. "Jeez, I must've left an impression."

"Not really. But I remember how strongly you wanted to get back to her. I remember that that was why I liked you so much, why I helped you."

"Lena's always saving my ass one way or another, directly or indirectly. I think the only other thing I told you about her was her curls," Ethan said. "Her curls and maybe her name."

"What is her name?"

"Lena," Ethan said. "Josephine when I get frustrated."

"So you found her?" Xavier checked again.

"I did," Ethan said, "thanks to you."

"And what happened next?" The Gatekeeper asked.

"Next?" Ethan asked. He ran his hand through his white, white hair. "It's a long story."

"Time doesn't pass here. Length is regardless."

Ethan nodded. "I remember."

"Then tell me," Xavier said.

"Lena and I went to school to finish up what we had to do," Ethan said. "We left our town, Gatlin, after graduation and we went to college together to go to more school."

"Did you have to do that to?"

"No, that time we wanted to." Ethan nodded. "Well, we did according to her Uncle and my Dad."

"School for what?" Xavier asked.

"English Literature," Ethan said. "Like books and poetry."

"Like these?" Xavier said holding up one of the comic books they had just moved.

"Sort-of, but usually they're longer," Ethan said. "After that we traveled to places that were inside the books."

"The books you studied?"

"And in some we didn't," Ethan nodded. "We visited Dracula's castle and King's Cross Station, Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland from The Da Vinci Code, Verona in Italy, New York…" His eyes were far away; part of him was back in the mortal world.

"For how long?"

"For a year," Ethan said.

That didn't mean anything to Xavier, but he thought he was doing okay at keeping a conversation going.

"And then what?"

"Then I asked her to marry me."

"And..?" Xavier asked.

"And she punched me for asking a stupid question. But she did." Ethan said, a smile spreading on his face and creating more wrinkles. "So we got married and went to live in a big city, far away from Gatlin but easy to travel to and from thanks to the Caster Tunnels. Do you know about those, Xavier?"

"Of course," the Gatekeeper nodded.

"Alright. We lived in San Francisco, California. Where freak storms from the ocean and earthquakes are _supposed _to happen."

"And did what?"

"I edited books. My mom would have been happy, she was on the other side of the business for most of her life; she read books. My Aunt Marian was really happy about that. Lena taught at a University part time. With the other part she worked on Casting and keeping everyone at Ravenwood Manor, her family home, happy and above killing each other."

"It ends there?" Xavier asked, disappointed.

"No," Ethan said. "Lived longer than that, didn't I? We had kids."

"I knew it," Xavier breathed.

Ethan smiled. "Two beautiful girls; Viva Jane and Alli Amarie. Well, Evangeline and Elizabelle if you want their Caster names. I never got the hang of calling them by those, though."

"I imagine not," Xavier said. "I have enough trouble remembering one set."

"I think you're a special exception, though." Ethan said.

"An exception certainly different than being their father, yes. And what about those other people you went back for?" Xavier said.

"My best friend Link? Oh, he's still around New York or wherever today's brought him. He has that kind of liberty, he's an Incubus. Sort-of. He gave up on getting recorded, but started working at theaters to help bands record- he likes that a lot. He and his girl Ridley are on and off a lot less than they used to be. I think there might even be commitment to their relationship now, though they can be on two different continents in a day."

"And what about your other friends?" Xavier said not sure if there even _were _other friends.

"Liv and John? Did I mention them to you already?"

"No, but keep going."

"They did the Mortal school-apartment-get-married thing, they moved to England for a while because that's where she's from and then they moved back to Gatlin. Even had a baby, though we didn't think they could. Actually, they had two. A boy and a girl: Isaac and Hazel." Ethan said.

Xavier enjoyed listening to him rambling on. Talking about how Liv was a librarian, John was whatever he decided to be for the day. How Alli was a little rebel who was nasty to her teachers but sweet to the world, and Viva was shy and you'd think she was dormant until you got her talking about something she loved. He talked about everything and nothing and Xavier liked every single word of it.

It seemed like Xavier could fill one of Ethan's edited books with this story by the time he finished talking.

Ethan cleared his throat. "I, umm, I really should get going though. I might've been in a coma after the crash, but Lena told me no funny-business after I crossed. She's got the Greats watching me like guard dogs. I just had to sneak by and talk to you."

"You risked upsetting your girl with the curls to come visit?"

"Of course. She's used to it, and more importantly you're my friend." Ethan said holding out his hand. Xavier shook it, and Ethan didn't even cringe at the horrible texture.

* * *

**320 years later**

Carter shuffled around the treasure room, holding up what he wanted to give Xavier.

"I'm telling you, this coin is rare." He repeated. "It's old, it was minted in 2012. It's worth a lot."

"I might already have one like it," Xavier muttered. "I can't get the same treasure twice. I must check before accepting."

Carter dropped the coin and crumpled to the ground. "Why can't you have the same twice, sir? Why not? It's all I have to give you, and I really do have to cross the river."

"Why?" Xavier asked.

"I have a life to get back to, up there. I have to. Do you remember your life?" Carter asked.

"Yes, I do." Xavier said. "I remember my girl, a girl with gold hair. Also two little girls, Viva and Alli. Well, Evangeline and Elizabelle if you want their Caster names. I never got the hang of those, though. I remember traveling and making books and my girl teaching poetry and my friend being a librarian."

Xavier smiled to himself as he kept searching for the coin.

That thought had kept him happy for three hundred and twenty two years.

And it would keep him happy for all of this blasted, dark, cursed (and until then joyless) eternity.


End file.
